In 2020, a Texas state trooper pulled over a woman driving erratically on a rural highway. She said she had just given birth. There was blood in the car and a newborn in the back seat. Almost none of what she told him was true.

Maternal Instinct reconstructs the case of Taylor Parker, one of the most disturbing crimes in recent Texas memory. Parker had spent months building up to this moment. A carefully planned pregnancy had taken place, amongst a plethora of lies.

By the time the full picture is on screen, you understand not just what happened but how a lie compounds until the only way out is something unthinkable.

The strongest passages belong to the people around the victim — parents, friends, first responders — who describe a young mother whose real, ordinary excitement about her baby stands in stark contrast to Parker's manufactured version. It's a quiet, devastating counterweight.

At 96 minutes it doesn't overstay. A single, self-contained documentary about a case that didn't need to be stretched into a limited series.